Jaitley reiterates no tax on farm income
Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday ruled out tax on farm income, as proposed by the government’s think tank Niti Aayog in its longterm vision document.
“I have read the paragraph in the Niti Aayog report entitled Income tax on agriculture income. To obviate any confusion on the subject, I categorically state that the central government has no plan to impose any tax on agriculture income,” Jaitley said in a statement.
“As per the Constitutional allocation of powers, the central government has no jurisdiction to impose tax on agricultural income,” he added.
Presenting its vision document to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the Niti Aayog projected an annual average growth of 8% with faster reforms.
The think tank proposed bringing agricultural income within the personal income tax net to broaden the tax base and thereby enable the government to reduce the tax rate. The BJP’s peasant wing slammed Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy for his proposal to tax agriculture income, saying it undermines farmers’ hard work and shows Debroy’s “ignorance” of farming.
The think tank also issued a statement regarding Debroy’s proposal.
“The Niti Aayog categorically states that this is neither the view of the Aayog nor is such a recommendation made anywhere in the Draft Action Agenda document as circulated to the Governing Council at the meeting on April 23, 2017,” the statement said.